Hectric Trip to Kings Cross
by Nyeerg
Summary: Nothing goes right on their first trip to Kings Cross- James couldn't make his mother crazier if he tried.


**Also dedicated to livinlavidalokid and alcohol. Hugs and kisses!**

They were nearly halfway to Kings Cross when nine year old Albus piped up from the back seat. "Did we grab Fudge?"

Fudge, James' owl and start-of-year present from Harry and Ginny, had been corralled into his cage in preparation for the trip to Hogwarts. Harry glanced at Ginny. Ginny turned around in her seat and stared at James, who was wide-eyed and studiously ignoring her by staring at his hands in his lap. "James? Did you grab Fudge?"

James looked out the window, then at his little sister, sitting between him and Albus in the back seat of the car, then at his hands again, then eventually at Ginny. Harry pulled into a petrol station and parked, then turned around and matched Ginny's stare at their oldest son. "James, answer your mother."

James mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like "No, Mum," but could also have been "Norma".

"Can I have Fudge since James isn't smart enough to take care of her?" Albus asked. "Cause I can totally take care of her if James can't."

"No! She's my bloody bird!" James reached over Lily and tried to swing at Albus. The resulting screech of three angry children and one angry wife was too much for Harry to handle. "IF YOU DO NOT ALL SHUT UP RIGHT NOW, I AM GOING TO SILENCE ALL OF YOU!" he snarled. The kids immediately shut up—he rarely snapped like that, and when he did it meant a bad time for all parties involved. Ginny gave him a dirty look, but Harry put the car in gear and turned it back towards the house. "When we get to the house, James, you go and get Fudge. Is there anything _else_ you think you don't have?"

James crossed his arms and pouted. "No, Dad."

The return ride to the house was unpleasantly silent. James and Ginny went in, James to get his bird and Ginny to do a sweep of any last-second important things James might need (she returned with two of his school books and the owl treats). Harry glanced at the clock on the dash—he'd intended for them to be about thirty minutes early but with the turn around, they were going to be lucky to make it with five minutes to spare. Nobody spoke for the first ten minutes or so of the drive, until Harry's WizardMessenger parchment started vibrating. The WM, a prototype from the Malfoy Company, mimicked Muggle cellular phones, and Malfoy had offered the prototypes to the Ministry for testing.

"Harry…" Ginny warned. They'd agreed months before that the first ride to Kings' Cross for each of the kids was sacrosanct—nothing short of Voldemort's return would pull them away from being there for the children.

"I know, I know!" Harry fished the parchment out of his pocket. The WM looked like a hard, rectangular piece of parchment, about 12 centimeters by 5, and could contact anybody who also held a WM by speaking their name into the parchment. Harry held it to his ear, although it made shifting gears difficult. "Harry Potter," he answered.

"Potter, it's Devons. We need you to come in, there's been a break in the Diagon Alley case." Mark Devons, Harry's immediate supervisor, should have known not to bother Harry before 11 on September first. Harry could feel Ginny's heated stare from the passenger seat but he ignored it.

"I'm driving right now, I'm taking James to Kings Cross. I can be in after 11." Beside him, Ginny huffed. Lily started singing something under her breath and Al started to kick Harry's seat.

"We really could use you in here now, mate."

Harry glanced at Ginny. He read her expression as plainly as if she were speaking to him—hang up the phone and continue to Kings Cross or face her wifely wrath.

"I really can't make it in yet."

The line went quiet for a minute. "Ginny's staring at you, isn't she?"

Ginny nodded; with her arms crossed and her blue eyes narrowed, all she needed was a tapping foot to be the picture of an angry wife about to bring pain down upon her husband's head.

Harry made a noncommittal noise.

"She can hear this, can't she?"

"Something like that, yeah." Harry pulled into the parking lot at Kings Cross and parked the car. "Look, give me ten minutes, alright?"

Ginny cleared her throat. Harry bit back a complaint, and amended it to fifteen minutes.

"Just get here when you can. Be ready to hit the ground running, we've got to chase this break before it disappears on us like the rest of them have. Come to my office when you get to the Ministry." Devons' side of the line cut off and went silent. Harry stuffed the WM back in his pocket. "Alright, every body out. We don't have much time before the Hogwarts Express leaves."

"Who's fault is that?" Albus complained. "Why do we have to rush just because James sucks?"

"Albus Severus!" Ginny grabbed his upper arm in a punishing grip. "What has gotten into you?" She shook him, then let go and stormed off towards the entrance to Kings' Cross.

"This couldn't go worse if we actively tried," Harry muttered to himself. At least he knew what was making Ginny act the way she was—one of her year-mates had died the week before, and Ginny was still grieving her friend's death. He hauled James' trunk out of the boot and with the help of a muttered charm, had it light enough that he could carry it easily through the parking lot to the train. "Come on, kids," he said. James shoved one hand in his pocket, the other holding Fudge's cage, and trailed behind Harry while Albus and Lily hovered between him and Ginny, unsure of which parent was less angry with them at the moment.

They found Ginny on the other side of the barrier, gesturing angrily to Bill. "Does Mum hate me?" James asked quietly as Harry set his trunk down.

"What?" Harry stared at him, all of his own irritation lost in an instant. "Of course she doesn't, why would you ask that?"

James shrugged and ducked his head. Harry knelt down in front of him and put his hands on James' shoulders. "If _nothing else_, your mother does not hate you. She's going through a lot right now and is really, really stressed, okay?"

"But I forgot Fudge and then you were mad and—"

Harry put his hand under James' chin and lifted it to make James meet his eyes. "She's irritated because you should have taken better care of your owl, James," Harry said softly. "Not because she hates you. Fudge isn't just a toy, she's a live animal who needs to be taken care of and looked out for. You're her owner. You have to keep her safe and fed. If you don't think you're ready to take care of her, we'll look after her until next year and then you can try again. But even if we have to do that, Mum doesn't and would never hate you."

James sniffled and dashed at the tears with the back of his hand. "Okay, Dad." Whether or not he believed Harry would have to wait to be seen; the best he could do was reassure his son that, despite how good he was at irritating his mother, Ginny wouldn't hate him.

"Now if you don't hurry up, you're going to miss the train."

"And that would just make Mum even more angry," James said. "And we don't even have a car to fly me to Hogwarts in."

Harry snorted. "I think your mum would kill _me_ if I let you fly a car to Hogwarts. One Potter doing that is more than enough, I think."

James laughed too, and grabbed his trunk to drag aboard the Hogwarts Express. "Will you tell Mum goodbye?"

Harry glanced over at Ginny, who had given up on angry gesturing and looked like she was fighting tears. Bill wrapped her in a hug and whispered something in her ear. "I think that would be best. You know Mum loves you, James. Now just…isn't a good time."

"I know. I forgot about her friend. Can you tell her I'm sorry about Fudge?" James stood just inside the train, his trunk blocking several older students from moving past him.

"I'll tell her. You be sure to write us first thing after getting sorted or else I'm come to Hogwarts and embarrass you in front of all your new friends."

"Right, Dad." James rolled his eyes but looked more cheerful than he had minutes for. "Bye."

"See you, kiddo." Harry waved. The Hogwarts Express screamed steam and the doors slid shut. James waved, still blocking the walkway, as the train pulled away from the station.

Albus and Lily popped up on either side of him, still looking nervous. "So he's gone?" Albus asked.

"Yep. He'll be back at Christmas." Harry took Lily's hand and ruffled Albus' dark hair. "You won't miss him, of course."

"Nope!" Lily said.

"He's a jerk." Albus looked up at Harry. "But he'll definitely be home at Christmas, right?"

"Of course." Ginny came up behind them, her face tear-streaked and her eyes red and puffy. Her jaw was set, and she looked about ready to rear off and punch something. "He wouldn't dare not come home for Christmas."

"Our family is weird," Lily announced. "Can we get ice cream?"


End file.
